The bomb attacks in London on 7 July had a profound effect on the British psyche, in the same way that the attacks of 9/11 struck the collective consciousness of the United States and last year’s attacks in Madrid traumatised the people of Spain. Although attacks by Islamist extremists against innocent civilians are shocking wherever they occur, the impact is far more devastating – on both a society and its political leaders – when one’s own city is the target.
The four bombers – three of them young Britons of Pakistani origin -- killed 52 people as well as themselves.
In relation to the global “war on terror”, what do the 7 July attacks tell us?
Hence there is a continuing (and so far unresolved) debate about what “Al-Qaida” now is. Those who argue that it is a wholly decentralised movement, and that local groups are entirely autonomous, are perhaps overstating their case. Local networks may have considerable freedom of manoeuvre and yet still need the input of a skilled “orchestrator” who provides money, bomb-making skills or simply the ability to co-ordinate different cells operating in the same country.
(At the time of writing, it is still not known whether there was a clear link between the bombers of 7 July and those who struck London two weeks later – or whether the later attacks were a “copycat” operation. The latter seems on the whole unlikely, despite the fact that the second wave of attacks was so unsuccessful. But investigators still await some definite proof.)
Like all recent operations attributed or linked to Al-Qaida and its affiliates, the London bombings offer lessons of two distinct kinds. First, they raise issues about the difficulties inherent in protecting a big modern city where hundreds of thousands of people regularly use an over-burdened public-transport system. Before 7 July London was not the worst protected Western city; it is therefore not self-evident that day-to-day security in public places can be dramatically improved. Citizens may simply have to get used to a new level of threat.
Second, hard questions now need to be asked and answered about the issue of how big and growing Muslim communities can become better integrated into Western societies. Britain’s 1.6 million Muslims account for a relatively small percentage of the total population (about three per cent). Yet Muslims, like other immigrant communities (e.g. the Chinese), tend to live close together often in run-down inner-city areas—not only in parts of London (such as the East End) but in other big cities such as Birmingham, Leeds and Glasgow.
Difficult challenges lie ahead, especially as young Muslims -- who form the overwhelming majority within local Muslim communities -- have now been politicised by events in the wider Muslim world (especially in Palestine and Iraq). And like other young people, they are avid users of the Internet, which is now a highly successful tool for recruitment as well as propaganda.
Britain’s problems are hardly unique. It has followed a particular mix of policies since the 1960s, known collectively as “multi-culturalism”. It is now easy, but perhaps facile, for the French and others to claim that British-style multi-culturalism has failed. It is true that it has not worked particularly well and has arguably kept different communities apart rather than bringing them together. In addition, over a period of a decade or more London has become “Londonistan” – a haven for Islamic militants from all over the world. However, the unpalatable reality is that all West European states now face a set of common problems, and none can claim to have had much success in overcoming them.
JIME Center.All rights reserved.